DailyFranchiseNews.com

Retirees Want That Less and Less: 63-Year-Old Would Much Rather Keep Working

And why not? I myself was bored being home for two weeks after surgery so gee, staying home for good? Not so much.  Read Bill's story below from Tampa Trib reporter Laura Frazier (who can turn a clever phrase BTW)after being laid off three times in his long career he decided to be in charge of his own days on the job!  Buying an Express Oil Change franchise made him a happy camper--he gets to stay sharp, greet customers and, more importantly, be in charge of his own destiny!

Besides, automotive aftermarket is a good bet because with this recession and collapse of dealerships...well we are all hanging on to our cars longer, yes?

 

Dry Cleaning Station Gets Martinized

Martinizing has been the gold standard in dry cleaning since its inception in 1949 and is expanding its presence further with the recent acquisition of Minneapolis-based Dry Cleaning Station.

American Drycleaner reported that according to Jerry Laesser, Martinizing’s vice president of marketing and development, it’s anticipated that a combination of 10 Dry Cleaning Station full-service plants will initially convert to the Martinizing brand in four markets, including Denver; Southern California; Tulsa, Okla.; and Minneapolis, with other markets to follow. Martinizing will expand its brand into new markets and rebrand existing Dry Cleaning Station locations as Martinizing centers; stores in markets with existing Martinizing locations will retain the Dry Cleaning Station name.

“People may be cutting back on luxuries, but they will never give up their dry cleaning,” said Laesser. “By joining forces with Dry Cleaning Station, Martinizing is giving its customers the confidence that they will receive the best service possible at all times.”

Photo: Martinizing's Jerry Laesser.

Former NFL Player Gets Lean, Mean and Clean with Martinizing

Looking at most resumes, we’ve all had some tough jobs but probably none as demanding as Al Singleton’s last career: For 10 years, he was an outside linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Dallas Cowboys where he received (and dispensed) his fair share of hits every week. He won a Super Bowl ring in 2003 but has since retired to pursue a new career with Martinizing Dry Cleaning. Here are some highlights from his recent interview with the Denville Rockaway:

When was your business founded?
Martinizing Dry Cleaning is the most recognized name in dry cleaning and the largest dry cleaning franchiser in the United States with more than 600 locations worldwide. Since its inception in 1949 by New York chemist Henry Martin, Martinizing has been the gold standard and a constant innovator in the onsite dry cleaning industry. The company will expand its presence in the state of New Jersey this month, opening the first of five locations in the Denville area.

Why did you start the business?
After a decade living out my dream on the field, I decided to retire and follow another dream of mine: owning my own business. I returned to my roots in New Jersey and began searching a business opportunity. Though I found plenty of options, it was challenging to find the right fit. As a first-time entrepreneur, I was looking for a proven business model with an established company and wanted to get involved with an operation that was actively preparing the future and taking steps to evolve and continue its success. I attended the Wharton School of Business to build my network and research opportunities. After two years of due diligence, I found Martinizing Dry Cleaning, and I knew I had found exactly what I was looking for. Also, I always enjoyed dressing sharp and being in tune with the latest styles. Naturally, I gained a great sense of fashion. I like the idea of people trusting my staff and me with their personal garments, knowing that they will be treated like my own.

What personality trait helps you the most?
My attention to detail will help me the most because it's the little things that really make a difference and what customers appreciate the most.

In one sentence, tell us why customers should bring their clothes to Martinizing.
Customers should come here because of the quality of work, professionalism and VIP incentives — you must become one to believe it!

Read the interview in its entirety here!

Profiting from Every Pour

Regardless of the industry, business owners are always looking to maximize their profits. For those in the bar and restaurant game, this is even more important but thankfully there are plenty of people in their corner.

Florida Today reported that one key way bar and restaurant owners are protecting their bottom line is to minimize alcohol losses, like when the bartender overpours or a server eager for a bigger tip slides a customer a drink on the house. Enter Indialantic-based BEVINCO of Florida: The company offers alcohol inventory management control that involves weighing open bottles of liquor, wine and kegs, tabulating unopened bottles and then creating a variance report that uses sales and purchase information to track usage against income. "The process involves giving the client a snapshot of their day-to-day operations," said BEVINCO owner Mike Whitlow. "So to do that, we do a series of baseline audits, and that's without the staff's knowledge."

Whitlow calls what BEVINCO does "profit enhancement service" because it also offers consultations on which type of alcohol and management practices will bring the greatest gain. He said bars that don't use any alcohol inventory management typically have profit losses -- known as shrinkage rates -- of around 25 percent. Chris Conneen, owner and operator of Pizza Gallery & Grill at The Avenue Viera, said that using BEVINCO reduced his shrinkage rate by more than 20 percent. "It's a big number, and honestly, I think we had a good system in place, but what BEVINCO did was help us develop a more accurate system," he said. "We can spot check a single bartender on a single shift and can tell whether they're an ounce off any drink. There are a lot of temptations out there, whether the bartender has fallen on hard times or the bar manager. This system just helps us as an integrity tool, it's a tool to measure the integrity of our system and our people."

Photo: BEVINCO owner Mike Whitlow.

Job Interview? Get Your Suit Cleaned for Free at Martinizing

Standing out from the competition is imperative if you want to land the job of your dreams. Warrendale, Pa.-based non-profit Priority Two has been doing just that for over two decades by helping prepare individuals for employment transition and its programs are even more relevant today given the current state of the job market. Now, in addition to providing job search skills, interview coaching and support services, Priority Two has partnered with Martinizing Dry Cleaning to offer a one-time free dry cleaning of professional attire (a roughly $20 value) prior to an interview.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that brothers Todd and Scott Fennell, of Natrona Heights in Harrison, have operated their Martinizing Dry Cleaning franchise in Pine Tree Shops on Route 19 in Pine since last May, but they have already joined with Priority Two. "A friend of mine had lost his job and I told him if he needed his suit cleaned, I'd do it for free," explained Scott Fennell. This led Fennell and his brother, Todd, to consider helping others in the same situation. They heard about Priority Two through customers who belong to North Way, where the group meets. They offered their services to those attending the job search skills classes. "It seemed a great opportunity for us to stay grounded by helping those in our community," Scott Fennell said.

Says Priority Two executive director Don Priestley, “Job searching isn’t meant to be an independent process but the average person doesn’t seek assistance. This is why we consider those who contact Priority Two as above-average individuals that deserve all the help they can get. We are thrilled that Scott and Todd have presented this wonderful opportunity and hope more business owners like them will do the same.”

From Finance to Franchising: No Bull (or Bear)!

Fact: There are opportunities beyond Wall Street. Where, you ask? In franchising! Click here for a great slideshow on BusinessWeek.com profiling several individuals that have found new careers with companies including Floor Coverings International, Martinizing Dry Cleaning, Tasti D-Lite, CertaPro Painters, Hungry Howie’s Pizza, Liquid Capital and WSI.

Photo: FCI franchisee Mark Woodward.

A Push for Profitability

One would think that not only living but owning a business in Hawaii would be paradise. That assumption would be partially true but what people forget is that some of the same issues plaguing mainland businesses – specifically restaurants and bars – exist offshore as well.

MidWeek reported that operating at a 20-percent loss has become second nature to bar and restaurant owners but Andrew Crawford is helping to combat this problem with BEVINCO, a profit management and alcohol inventory control company.

“Every week, we count and weigh what’s at the bar,” Crawford says, noting that a hand-held scanner also is used. “We provide a report of how the bar did each week. We try to keep it as paperless as possible. The e-mail written report has spreadsheet reports they can analyze.” The process of weighing the inventory can take anywhere from one to four hours, with the average audit taking two hours, but Crawford says the software, bar-code scanner, digital scale and laptop streamline the process to five times faster than manual data entry. His customers range from small bars to national franchises. Oahu clients include Chili’s, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, and Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

“We like to encourage the bar owners to give their bartenders the ability to sell the product and promote the product, and to reward good customers,” says Crawford. “We use what we call a comp tab to acknowledge good business practices. The owner is basically giving an allowance to bartenders so they can give a drink to customers as a thank you. This way they can tangibly evaluate how much they are giving away.”

Photo: BEVINCO's Andrew Crawford.

A Second Look Goes a Long Way

Think you know everything there is to know about your business? Unless you’re there 24 hours per day, you don’t have a clue.

According to Franchising.com, this is exactly what happened with Moxie's Classic Grill franchisee Eatz Enterprises realized there was more to their operation – specifically, their beverage inventory – than met the eye so they turned to BEVINCO to provide weekly profit control and revenue enhancement audits at 12 of their premium casual restaurants throughout Manitoba and Ontario. Even with an in-house system in place, Eatz was having difficulty tracking their inventory and managing operating costs so they brought BEVINCO senior partner Frank Van Der Kroon and his team in for a trial at one of their Winnipeg restaurants in late 2008. Less than one year later, BEVINCO is performing weekly audits at 12 of the group's restaurants: five in Winnipeg, three in Ottawa and four in Toronto are serviced by Van Der Kroon, Peter Imbeault and George Jinargyros, respectively.

"The Winnipeg Moxie's locations were losing upwards of $1,800 per week but when BEVINCO entered the picture, that changed immediately," said Van Der Kroon. "Not only have we been able to deduce where the losses are occurring, we know exactly why and how to address the issue. BEVINCO has also made it so the bar managers no longer have to show up at 5 a.m. to count the inventory or worry about products because they use our par and order service exclusively to stay fully but not overly stocked."

Vanessa De Caria, BEVINCO's vice president of operations, touts BEVINCO's precision and flexibility as major factors in this new relationship. "Eatz and Moxie's had some very specific requirements: All of the audits had to be done on a particular day of the week by a specific time. There are very few organizations that could not only accommodate such requests and provide an accurate picture of usage and loss as well, which is why BEVINCO was brought aboard. Product usage and recipes have since been adjusted to ensure all drinks are poured consistently at each location and the ordering process has been streamlined to reduce on-hand stock. Now, each Moxie's location BEVINCO services has a much more accurate understanding of what's going on behind the bar at all times."

A Splash of Color (and Success!) in Cedar Rapids

Could a stint in corporate America be just what it takes to turn an entrepreneurial dream into reality? You bet!

The Gazette reported Greg Reininga experienced that scenario firsthand: After owning a motorcycle parts and accessories shop, Reininga returned to the corporate world for three years as a manufacturing coordinator for Rockwell Collins but found out very quickly he’d much rather work for himself than anyone else. He was interested in starting a business that could provide a true service to his community so he consulted his college roommate, who had opened a CertaPro Painters franchise in San Diego. Would it the concept also be a fit halfway across the country in Cedar Rapids, Iowa? “As a lifelong Cedar Rapids resident, he thought this would be a great location. Lo and behold, 3,200 houses later, I’m still in business,” Reininga said. “This is a professional business, not just a painter out there trying to paint houses and businesses. We’re a full-service painting company. We do wallpaper removal, drywall texture and painting. If a customer needs a fascia board replaced, we can take care of it.”

Reininga launched CertaPro Painters of Hiawatha in January 2000 and today employs 23 full-time painters who handle projects in a territory stretching north to Manchester and south to Hills. Since last year, Reininga has seen an 18 percent increase in estimates and booked jobs and has seen the trend of homeowners staying in their homes instead of selling them. “People are repainting more now than they were a year ago,” he said. “Instead of buying a new house, they’re updating and they don’t have to get used to new neighbors.”

In addition to these renovation projects, Reininga said CertaPro also handles its share of do-it-yourself homeowners who found they were in over their head. The first step for any project, he said, involves collaboration with the homeowner. “We may discover mold that must be removed or wallpaper that really needs to come down before we can start painting,” Reininga said. “It’s really important for us to understand their wants, needs and desires to ultimately give them what they want.”

Photo: Chad Pirtle (right) and Kevin Mullarkey, painters with Reininga's CertaPro Painters, on the job in Cedar Rapids.

Minimize Loss to Maximize Profits

Every business owner is looking for ways to save money and for those in the hospitality industry, one way is probably behind the bar.

The Edmond Sun reported that while businesses serving alcoholic beverages make a profit in their alcohol sales, Robert Wiedemann says many are not maximizing those profits. How would he know? His business, BEVINCO, aims to increase revenue and decrease shrinkage by weighing and comparing how much alcohol is used compared with how much is sold, he said. The top five causes of shrinkage include missing inventory, spoilage and other wastes, free drinks, missing revenue and over pouring.

First BEVINCO does an initial liquor, wine and beer inventory of a business and weighs all the opened bottles to see how many ounces of liquid each contains, he said. Then, on a weekly basis, he weighs every bottle and keg on a scientific scale connected to a laptop running state-of-the-art, proprietary BEVINCO software. This weekly inventory then is tallied against the weekly sales, pinpointing any discrepancies between amount sold and amount used. Wiedemann said he can calculate exactly how many ounces of each liquor bartenders should be using in each mixed drink according to the owner’s specifications of how much is sold at what cost. He also revealed that businesses with liquor licenseses experience an average shrinkage of 20 percent to 25 percent on lost alcoholic product and BEVINCO can increase bar sales revenue by 10 percent on average. “It’s a beverage management system. Businesses are in a crunch and they’re looking for ways to impact the business,” said Wiedemann. “Our job is not to accuse. It’s to help. You’re in a position where it is easy to be lucrative. We’re here to keep people honest. All we’re asking of for (bartenders) to account for what they are using.”

Travis Franz, general manager of Old Chicago, said BEVINCO comes in twice a month. “They do a great job with inventory,” he said. “They’ve done a phenomenal job helping us maximize our profit and minimize our waste. It helps with waste. It helps with theft. It helps with over pour. It’s a great tool and asset!”

Photo: BEVINCO owner Robert Wiedemann.